Silverchair

Press

12-12-2007

House Of Blues - Chicago, USA

By ANDREW

Well, I must say that I have been a Silverchair fan since hearing the very first song on Diorama. Before that, I knew of Silverchair because of Frogstomp and Tomorrow, etc. And of course they had some great songs after Frogstomp and prior to Diorama such as Ana's Song, etc. For whatever reason, I picked up Diorama at the local music store and I was hooked immediately. The follow up album has also been a delight. I was so happy when the tour was announced with a visit to Chicago. So now for the concert...

I am from Lake Geneva, WI which is about an hour and a half from Chicago. I brought a friend that I exposed to Silverchair as he is a big fan as well now. We arrived early at wat was a sold out House of Blues in downtown Chicago. We set up camp as close to the stage as possible and waited for the opening acts for which I did not care for. Then it was time for Silverchair. The introduction was cool with pounding and accelerating beats before the band came upon the stage. Their music is so full of variations, orchestration, keys, etc. so I wasn't sure how it was going to be live. I was in awe to see the two keyboard players (PAUL MAC... THE BEST!!) side by side with Daniel, Chris, and Ben. They started right off with young modern station and it was magnificant. It was amazing and refreshing to hear a band actually sound like they do on a CD. That tells you something about their talent. I knew that it was going to be a great show!

The band continued to play great songs with variations on many of them. I believe they played 8 songs off of Young Modern which was cool. I was hoping to hear more music from Diorama as they played the Greatest View which was incredible. When a band fills their album with so many great songs, it is hard to hear all of them! Silverchair, please come play a four hour show sometime! When Daniel was preparing to play Straight Lines he made a comment about having a sore throat and the tonight show mishap. It was funny and the song sounded amazing. Also, I think Mind Reader was my least favorite song on the new album until I heard it live. Wow... it is now one of my favourites (dig my spelling!!). They all seemed to be having a good time on stage and they were fun to watch. The show went on for I believe almost an hour and a half. The boys left the stage and the crowd went nuts. It took a while, but they came back out and played a bit which was great. Daniel was shirtless and of course the girls in the crowd were into that. I still can't believe I got see such an amazing band in such an intimate venue.

What amazing music. What talented musicians. Keep up the good work and please come back to Chicago or preferrably MILWAUKEE, WI! Maybe the Riverside or Milwaukee Theatre!!!

By JAKE

I should first preface this report by saying this is the most anticipated show I've ever attended, as I've been waiting 12 years to get the chance to see Silverchair live. I missed them at Lollapalooza earlier this year so I am quite thankful they made their way back through Chicago. Those of us in the States just haven't had many opportunities for a live Silverchair show the past few years!

It was truly a fantastic show from start to finish, and they did an excellent job of covering their entire catalogue. The band sounded fantastic, and despite Daniel's illness (he told the crowd he had not been feeling well and was hopped up on cold medicine) he voice was in great shape. High points for me included "Emotion Sickness", "The Greatest View", and "Israel's Son". Daniel's banter in between songs is very entertaining; he works the crowd very well. An interesting high point of the evening was the rendition of "Happy Birthday" in honor of Chris by sung by Daniel and the audience.

One of the best rock shows I've ever seen, I really hope I don't have to wait another 12 years to see them again.

By JENNY

The boys were headlining night three of Chicago radio station’s Christmas shows, which for me solidified their return to U.S. airwaves as the show was promoted with heavy rotation of Straight Lines and the newly re-released The Greatest View, as well as some older songs (the station can’t seem to help itself from identifying silverchair with their Tomorrow days). So after screamo opener opener Strata and indie band Silversun Pickups (as a complete side note the lead singer HAS to be related and/or an aficiando of incarnated cult leader Charles Manson), the sounds of the Young Modern Station introduction rang through the sold out crowd at Chicago’s House of Blues. Young Modern Station sounded great and was following by a moving rendition of Emotion Sickness. Daniel took the liberty of extending the instrumental interludes.

Personally, I’ve taken a liking to watching Paul Mac, Chris and Ben stare at Daniel during the improvizations. It seems they’re looking for some signal of how long the particular extension will last.

The crowd reacted well to Israel’s Son, which sadly reflects how some people are still stuck in the Frogstomp days, oh how silverchair (and we all) have grown since then. When one fan cried out for the koala joke, Daniel laughed and said “You can’t handle the koala joke.” This means I still have not heard the darn joke!

Daniel was short with the crowd in comparison to his lengthy banter at the previous night’s show in Indianapolis. I assume his virus may have worsened or the bitter cold weather in Chicago soured his mood.

After the crowd was enthusiastic to Young Modern tunes he told us “To be honest with you we didn’t think tonight was going to be a good show, but you’re proving us wrong.” Ana’s Song was pretty moving. Mind Reader, Reflections of a Sound and The Greatest View were good as well. He egged on the crowd to sing louder and cheer more informing us that he wasn’t looking for pity, but he his throat and chest were really sore. This prompted Ben and his short shorts to emerge from behind the drum kit to give Daniel a hug to cheer him up.

Before going into Straight Lines, he warned it was going to sound something like their performance on the Jay Leno show when he had laryngitis. It sounded good though with the crowd filling in the parts of the chorus. At one point, Daniel collapsed onto the stage staying there for a little bit longer than seemed normal and when Chris went to check up on him the exchange involved a nod, alright hand motion and an air kiss. Apparently, Chris also is lucky enough to have multiple birthdays as Daniel sang Happy Birthday to Chris, who got into the seranade drinking his beer and relaxing against the amp.

Instead of the lengthy tirade of scream on command cues, Daniel asked the crowd to “Do him a favor” and scream, which was followed with prompts to yell “Play something from Frogstomp” and “Play Tomorrow.” After ending their normal set with If You Keep Losing Sleep, quite possibly the coolest thing I have ever experienced at a show happened.

Someone in the crowd changed the usual clap, scream, sil-ver-chair encore chants to the “Ooo, ooo, ooo, ooo, ooooo” interlude from If You Keep Losing Sleep. It caught on quite quickly and it was amazing to hear a crowd (especially in Chicago) get so into it. The boys obliged returning to the stage for Freak. One guy in the balcony got so into it he nearly fell off.